Tomatoes in Spicy Yogurt Sauce

23Aug

Yet another recipe to use up our plethora of homegrown tomatoes! Unfortunately, I didn’t check my supply of yogurt before I started cooking, and didn’t have enough yogurt. I tried to backfill with Mexican crema, but it separated a bit and made the sauce look ugly. The sauce still tasted OK though. I think I might cut the tomatoes in half next time; huge globes in the sauce were a little unwieldy, and letting the innards of the tomatoes out probably would make the flavor of the sauce even better too!

Ingredients

8 ripe but firm tomatoes

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

2 teaspoons cumin seeds

1 teaspoon brown mustard seeds

2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 serrano chiles, seeded and finely chopped [I used Tapatio]

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup plain whole milk yogurt

Cilantro sprigs (optional)

Preparation

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Meanwhile, fill a large bowl with cold water and a few ice cubes and set near the pot. Put tomatoes in boiling water for 10 seconds each, then use a slotted spoon to transfer them to ice water. Drain tomatoes and pat dry. Core and peel tomatoes (leave them whole). Set aside.

2. In a large frying pan, heat oil over high heat. When hot, add cumin seeds and mustard seeds and reduce heat to medium-high. Cover and cook until seeds start to pop, about 2 minutes. Remove cover and add butter. When butter is melted, add turmeric and cayenne and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add garlic, chiles, and salt. Cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Reduce heat to low. Add yogurt and stir in one direction until smooth. Add tomatoes. Gently stir to coat with sauce. Cook until tomatoes are just warm, about 5 minutes. Garnish with cilantro if you like and serve warm, with plenty of sauce.